From lips to landfill 364 days a year. One day isn't enough, Starbucks

(so I got fired up this morning. this will be a column.)

            The night before Earth Day I learned that Starbucks has a yearly campaign to give a free fill-up of coffee or tea to anyone who brings in their own reusable mug on Earth Day.

            In the words of Shania Twain: that don’t impress me much.

            It sounds good, at first.  But a closer look and some critical thinking makes it obvious that Bucks isn’t as green as they claim, and in fact this is a great example of greenwashing, when a company tries to appear more eco-friendly than they really are.

            Let’s start with the paper cups, which are bleached.  Not good.  Why doesn’t Bucks use unbleached cups?  And if you think the paper cup is recyclable?  Think again.  Well, technically it is, since everything is recyclable, but right now?  Nope.  

            The cup goes from your lips to the landfill.  It’s got a plastic coating, making the recycling process much harder (and nixes its compostability.)  Supply creates demand though, and if Starbucks collected the cups—numbering around three billion a YEAR—recycling centers would respond. 

            And?  There are compostable paper cups in green coffee shops RIGHT NOW…but not in Starbucks.

            Coffee shops truly trying to be green will—first and foremost—promote reusable mugs and cups.  Do Starbucks employees ever ask ‘for here or to go?’ and serve ‘for here’ customers drinks in ceramic mugs?

            I’ve never seen that happen.  

            Bucks also touts on their website that they give 10 cents off customers drinks when they bring their own mug.  Even though ten cents is lame, how many people know about the ten cents off?  If Bucks really wants to make an environmental change, where are the signs reminding customers to bring their reusable mug or to get their drink in a ‘for here’ mug?         

            Admittedly, I rarely step inside a Starbucks, but I’ve never seen such a sign.

            Clearly, paper throwaway cups are the standard, which is totally backwards.  And if you do bring your own mug, baristas often forget that you did and put your drink in a paper cup anyway.  Or, they measure your Cinnamon Dolce in a paper cup before pouring into your reusable cup.  Both defeat the purpose. Palm to forehead.

            Back to Earth Day and the Starbucks free drink promo.  Seems like a way to get all warm and fuzzy, like you’re actually helping the Earth by driving to Bucks for a free cup of Joe.  It’s a good gimmick, but little more than that.  

okay, okay....comin' back around

Hello, February!  Hello, neglected blog!  Hello, a few minutes of peace and quiet, because we're digging out of 'icepocalypse' or whatever and have been stuck at home for nearly 2 days.  But the roads are pretty decent now, so I took the kids over to my friends for a few hours so I can start to catch up on some writing deadlines (gosh, I don't know, writing just does NOT happen well here with kids around...). 

So, I'm taking just a few minutes to center and then will dig in to writing, but I wanted to post my friend Mindi's blog, because she's one helluva crafter and a cool hippie chick (btw Mindi, I made my last batch of deodorant and put it in an old Tom's of Maine stick and loooove it).  Mindi and I met via the Current, and so did most of the 'wolves' (our Women Who Run With the Wolves bookclub) which is all sorts of awesome. 

So, I'm gonna be planning this year's (I'm not a) dirty hippie parties this weekend, please comment with any sort of body care/home care item you'd like to make, even if you're not local! 

I'll be posting some hooping pics here soon, too, because I just attended an awesome HoopPath workshop and friends Ernie and Aaron were there and took some photos at the party.  (LED hoops are mesmerizing, btw, I want one!)

Spring is around the corner, too, I love February.  Almost time for sowing seeds inside!

reusable bag giveaway!!

Psst--all you treehuggers out there.  My latest column is about avoiding those ubiquitous plastic bags, and I'm giving away a cute little reusable bag .  Enter to win here.

Yeah, it's only July, but think Green for Halloween!

I'm excited to announce that I'm a volunteer coordinator for the grassroots initiative Green Halloween!   I spoke to the founder, Corey Colwell Lipson, last week and I just love what she's doing here.  I remember last Halloween, again going through the dilemma of what to give out for trick or treat, because I loathe doing the normal candy thing.  We got silly at dinner with options like chunks of cheese, toothbrushes (actually a really good idea!!), fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs? to the way wacky idea of diabetic testing strips (from Rob).

Besides all the candy given out and ingested, there's all the trash generated, not to mention the cheapo trinkets that end up in the landfill almost immediately, and the cheap costumes that aren't meant to last, and the face paints that have lead and other harmful toxins in them.  I always say I would rather have one thing of quality over a bunch of inferior junk.  I know children feel the same! 
 
So, of course, I'm excited to do this--it's right up my alley.  Be sure to check out Green Halloween on facebook too (and 'like' it), as well as Celebrate Green, which is a book Corey and her mom co-wrote.  When I talked to Corey I mentioned that I'd recently been flipping through last year's December/January issue of Mothering and saw the article on eco friendly decor she and her mom had written.  Her mom has written many, many articles for Mothering, so Corey grew up with that magazine.  How cool!  (I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from Mothering if my article will go from being on retainer to publication.  I won't hear until the last moment before it goes to print (and if not in the next issue, they'll hold it...up to six issues).  Oh, the suspense!!)

And here are some videos they've made, which are great.

Greenpiece Indy

Greenpiece Indy is a local (to me) blog newsletter offering eco-conscious tips to other crunchies, or greenies, or whatever you call yourself.  Help spread the word!  By signing up for their email newsletter to get green tips twice a week, you'll be entered in a drawing to win some green prizes. 

As they say, piece out!